Forget England’s failings at the World Cup, one Englishman was celebrating on Friday with his very own Catch of the Day – a 99lb carp – smashing the world record.
Ambrose Smith, from Denham, Buckinghamshire, reeled in the monster fish whilst holidaying in Dijon, eastern France, which weighed in 5lb heavier than the previous record for the biggest fish ever caught. He didn’t describe his feat as ‘mustard’ but he was very happy chappy nonetheless.
“We were having dinner on the bank when I got a powerful take with the fish taking 40 yards of line and I realised it was quite a heavy fish,” Ambrose said.
“It was a really hard fight which is no surprise considering there was a 100lb weight on the end of my line. After about 20 minutes I finally got the fish under the rod tip and my wife managed to slip the net under the fish on her first attempt.
“With the help of Ruth and the girls we weighed it and the scales finally settled at 99lbs.”
The 40-year-old roofer expressed slight regret that the carp couldn’t quite tip the scales at the holy grail of 100lbs but that was a mere downer on an otherwise jubilant evening for Ambrose and his family who celebrated with a bottle of wine after setting the mirror carp free in good health.
